


Grey

by Augustus



Category: Dragonlance - Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
Genre: M/M, preslash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2000-11-13
Updated: 2000-11-13
Packaged: 2018-03-08 05:57:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3197975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Augustus/pseuds/Augustus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>The opening line is from 'The Legend of Huma'</p>
    </blockquote>





	Grey

**Author's Note:**

> The opening line is from 'The Legend of Huma'

_"Huma stared at the body of Magius, remembering simpler times..."_

"Huma!"

Huma turned at the sound of his name, and smiled when he recognised the tall, slim form of Magius striding towards him along the rocky path, his red robes flowing sleekly around his legs. "Did Belgardin grant you a reprieve?" he asked, referring to the apprentice mage’s sponsor.

"You could say that," Magius grinned. "Although he is not yet aware of it..."

Huma laughed. There was a glint of mischief in his oldest friend’s eyes as he reached his side. "Not another sleeping spell?" he asked, trying to slide a note of disapproval into his voice but failing miserably. He never _had_ been good at censure where Magius was concerned. The young man was just too good at that flicker of the eyes and smirk of the lips, which somehow managed to lift him from the arms of trouble on every occasion. And he _was_ Huma’s closest friend, after all...

"Of course not." Magius’ voice was stern and proper, his brows pulled into a frown. "That wouldn’t be right, Huma, and you know it."

Huma may have been less than completely objective when it came to Magius, but he was not biased enough to be unable to read deeper than the young mage’s outward expressions. He knew his friend too well to be fooled that easily. "Another spell then?"

The smirk that battled to overrun Magius’ lips betrayed the truth.

"Oh Magius," Huma sighed. "You didn’t."

Magius shrugged. "I was bored." He gestured for Huma to recommence his journey towards his small home at the edge of the village. "I’d much prefer to spend the afternoon with you than sit in that hot kitchen listening to the droning of fat, old Belgardin."

Flattered, Huma couldn’t help but forgive his friend’s transgression. "I’m honoured," he smiled. "But surely you might learn something if you had stayed at your sponsor’s side."

Magius yawned deeply, and regarded his friend with an arrogant smile. "I learnt all of what that old man had to teach me years ago."

Huma knew it to be the truth, but still felt it a little unfair of Magius to play with Belgardin in such a manner. The elder mage was far from incompetent; himself one of the highest masters to wear the red robes. It had been he whom had seen the huge potential for magic lying dormant in the child Magius, and he who had enticed it out over the first years of Magius’ schooling and subsequent apprenticeship. While many young mages faced the uncertainty of finding a suitable master willing to take them on as an apprentice, Magius had known from the beginning that it would be Belgardin who would guide him in the ways of the art once his abilities grew too great for his schoolmaster. For this alone, Magius should have been thankful to the old mage. It irked Huma’s sense of honour when his friend flaunted his much greater abilities. "You’re incorrigible," was all that he said now, however. He had, long ago, learnt better than to inflict his own moral code on the other young man. 

"So they tell me." Magius winked at Huma and opened the gate to the latter’s home. "It’s a good thing I’m on your side, then, isn’t it?"

Huma smiled. "Sometimes I wonder," he teased, as he followed his friend through the overgrown garden that led to his front door.

Huma’s mother had been an avid gardener, but he had never felt able to continue the upkeep after her sudden and untimely death. It had seemed too much like encroaching on something sacred. There was a kind of justice in the way that the roses tangled across what had once been well-kept garden beds. It was almost as though the garden mourned her loss as much as he did.

"You know," Magius offered, unmindful of his friend’s unspoken feelings on the matter. "I could tidy this place up within seconds if only you gave me the word."

"I like it this way," Huma said simply. "I’m no gardener, as you know."

"True, but a few words..."

Huma lightly held up a hand. "No need, Magius," he replied softly. "Save your beloved magic for playing tricks on poor old Belgardin."

Magius grinned. "Ah, but there’s no challenge there any more."

"Perhaps I shall have to _set_ you a challenge then." Huma unlocked the door to the cottage and ushered his friend through. "Something that doesn’t entail the humiliation of an elderly man..."

The young mage’s laugh was light and enticing. Huma felt himself blushing under the teasing gaze. "He is not so old, you know," he mused, the smile never leaving his full lips. "It is more that we’re both so young."

Huma frowned as he carefully closed and latched the door behind him. These were not times of trouble, but it never hurt to be sure nonetheless. Huma was careful by nature, a result, undoubtedly, of his Solamnic blood. "We are not so very young any more, Magius," he corrected his friend. "It will not be so long before you are called upon to take the Test, and I..." he paused. "Well, I suppose I will stay here in the village forever, regardless of age."

The smile fell from Magius’ face as he regarded his friend. "But what of your plans of taking your rightful place in the knighthood?" he reminded Huma. 

Huma smiled sadly. "Childish dreams, Magius. As I said, we are not so young any more."

All trace of arrogance drained from Magius’ figure as he moved to lay a gentle hand on the shorter youth’s shoulder. "Perhaps not, my friend," he said softly. "But we are certainly not so old as to lose all of our hopes and dreams."

"I don’t know," Huma sighed, taking a seat on the old wooden bench that stood, scratched and dull, in front of the empty fireplace. "Surely there must come a time when reality becomes too real to be denied for any longer."

Magius sat down beside him, his robes pooling in perfectly weighted folds around his feet. "But what _is_ reality, Huma?" he probed, his eyes staring pressingly into Huma’s own. "What is real when a few words can turn something into nothing, or air into life?"

"Thus spake the mage..." Huma’s voice held a bitterness unfamiliar even to himself. He was not usually one to acknowledge the lot given to him by Paladine with anything more than a calm acceptance of his fate.

"Am I really so biased?"

"No." Huma smiled softly. "You are just aware of your own talents, mindful of what improvement you can award the world."

"You think too highly of me, Huma."

"Surely that is the right of a friend?"

"Perhaps so, but you take it to extremes!" Magius laughed and gently punched his friend in the arm. "You see, Huma," he continued, his voice a little more serious. "That’s your only problem. Everything to you is so black and white. You have to learn to accept the grey in the world."

Huma took a moment to digest the young mage’s words. "I thought I did accept it," he said finally.

"You accept its right to existence, in the way of a proper Knight of Solamnia. You would never dream of living it, though."

Huma laughed nervously. "You can’t live grey, Magius. It’s a colour, not a lifestyle."

Magius smiled knowingly and maddeningly. "Really?"

Huma frowned. "What are you trying to convince me of, Magius?" he asked, eyes held tightly by the deep blue of those in front of him.

His friend smiled sadly. "It’s not important, Huma." His tone was suddenly light and brisk once more, as he turned to look through the window beside him. "It is almost dusk," he said flippantly, a vast change from the serious Magius of only seconds previous. "Belgardin will be surprised at the rapid flow of time."

Huma had a feeling that there had been something important pushed into the shadows of the conversation and of their friendship. He was not willing to push the issue, however. He knew Magius too well for that, had, too often, found himself pushed solid against the brick wall of the other man’s obstinacy. And yet he knew that he was the person most trusted of all to the young mage.

"He’ll only be surprised for so long as it takes him to realise that he’s been fooled by his star pupil once again."

Magius nodded. "True. He’ll give me a talking-to tomorrow, I suppose. It was worth it, though, for a few extra hours away from that stuffy room." He grinned evilly at Huma. "And, of course, for a few extra hours spent admiring your latest adornment..." He reached up an elegant finger to prod ungraciously at the new line of black stubble on Huma’s upper lip.

Huma felt his face reddening, as he smiled sheepishly at his friend. "I was hoping you’d be too polite to mention that," he chastised. "I felt it was time to try my hand at growing a moustache worthy of the Knighthood. The mannerly response would have been to ignore it entirely, my friend."

Magius only grinned more broadly, not at all worried by the admonition. "Why be polite when you can be the greatest mage to ever live?" he asked with a toss of his head, his golden locks falling back perfectly into place, embroidered by the bronze rays of the setting sun.

Huma laughed. "I love your confidence, Magius," he said fondly, purposefully ignoring the way that the evening light cast sterling shadows onto the fine lines of the other man’s face.

"Well, one of us has to have a little belief in his own ability. Luckily for you, Huma, I have a great deal of belief in _your_ ability too." Magius placed a gentle hand on his friend’s shoulder. "And it is far from an unfounded belief, my friend. You will do great things one day. I’m sure of it."

Huma did not know how to reply to such a vote of support, especially when it came from the mouth of one much more suited to self-approbation. Instead, he tried to convey his silent thanks with his eyes, uncomfortable as he was with even implied words of praise.

Magius obviously correctly interpreted his imploring gaze, casually twisting his manner back to one of friendly teasing. Reaching out a finger once again, he gently prodded the novice moustache. "It tickles," he laughed, quickly pulling the hand away, as if he had been stung. "You’d better not go around courting the local maidens until it grows through a little."

Huma could fell himself blushing yet again. "You know I won’t, Magius," he replied softly. He spoke only the wretched truth. Huma had never had eyes for any of the young girls who flirted and giggled with Magius and the other young men of the town. He was not the type for such games of courtship, but that was not his entire reason for holding back. Barely a reason at all.

"I don’t know why not," the mage answered lightly. "You’re quite a catch, you know."

Huma laughed bitterly. "Oh, yes," he muttered sarcastically. "Who would _not_ be captivated by a man of uncertain background who dreams foolishly of the oath and the measure?"

The blue eyes darkened, brows of dark gold reaching towards them as Magius frowned wearily. "Who indeed?" he asked softly, suddenly withdrawn. When he spoke again, it was with the voice of one much older than he. "Perhaps I should leave you alone with your self-doubt, Huma. After all, there is nothing I could ever say or do to convince you of your own worth."

The twisted smile fell from Huma’s lips. "Not so much nothing you _could_ do or say, Magius, as nothing you _would_ ," he murmured cryptically.

The other stood, robes twisting at the movement, fanning a gentle breeze towards Huma. "I’d do anything for you, Huma," he replied quietly. "Whether you believe it or not." Standing, it was as though his entire body was caressed by the golden tendrils of the dying sun, his usual elegant beauty becoming almost divine. It was as though Huma’s eyes were fixed upon an earthly Paladine himself.

"Not anything, Magius," Huma said quietly, defeated. "Not the only thing I ever wanted from you." He sighed, and rose himself. "Perhaps you’re right," he muttered, eyes cast towards the ground, trying not to be blinded by the beauty of the man before him. "Perhaps you should leave, before I embarrass myself entirely by telling you _exactly_ what you will not say."

"Tell me." Magius' face was free of emotion, but there was a whisper of strain within his voice. "Tell me, and I assure you that you'll be proven wrong, my friend. Don't tell me you're beginning to underestimate me now too, as well as yourself."

"No, I would never do that."

The air hung thick in the darkening room, a scent to the light, dusk breeze that murmured of endings and beginnings and of the steady onward pacing of time. The sunset gave an almost ethereal glow to the room, stretching only to the blurring edges of the already lengthening shadows. The room felt dense, the moment hanging dark between the two. And Huma had a sudden, solid knowledge that they had reached a turning point in time, a moment carved cleanly in their fate, long before they had known the blacks and the whites of life itself. 

And, turning almost mindlessly from the gold-flecked beauty of his oldest and greatest friend, for the first time Huma truly saw the shadows, saw the silvers and the greys and the platinums reminiscent of Paladine himself. He saw the icy grey-blue of shining armour, the glossy sterling of dragonwing, the murky, dank mists of future despair...

It was not a long moment. Perhaps the time it took to draw a breath, perhaps longer. But, when Huma turned back to Magius, and to the windows, the sun had finally lost its battle with the horizon. There was a new intensity to the glint of silver within the mage's eyes, as if he, too, had felt the passing of an era, the passing of childhood frivolity, of what once had been.

And Huma's eyes seemed to unable to move from the other man's face, yet he was aware of the grey surrounding their two figures. It seemed as though the room had filled with silvers and greys, banishing the extremes of light and darkness to unseen corners and forgotten niches. It was grey light that flowed through the window, grey shadows that drifted from grey furniture silhouettes.

A slow smile grew on Magius' face. "You see it, don't you?" he whispered, hands reaching through clumsy grey air to clutch warmly at Huma's own. "You see the grey."

Huma could only nod, the warmth of Magius' slender hands flowing silver through his nerves, glowing platinum through his veins, pulsing throughout his body with every beat of his heart.

"You see yourself shrouded in black, Huma, entangled in hopelessness and imperfection." The mage's smile faded a little as his eyes delved sadly into those of his friend. "To me, thought, you shine with the brightest white, weaving it around yourself and those around you, glistening with your own beauty and purpose. " He smiled sheepishly, knowing he had said too much.

"I... I don't understand," Huma stuttered, searching for some meaning in the silver-blue of his friend's eyes.

"Why do you have to understand everything?" Magius asked sharply, shattering the dreamy haze of the moment. "You always have to understand yourself, to understand me. What if there _are_ no answers?"

Huma grasped the mage's hands a little tighter. "Then me must make the answers ourselves."

"That's a rather optimistic statement for you," Magius said, a faint glimmer of a smile making its way back to his lips.

"I _feel_ optimistic, all of a sudden," Huma grinned, delighting in the silver play of shadows in the waves of his friend's hair. "Perhaps some of your grey is beginning to rub off on me."

"Perhaps." Magius' eyes flickered between Huma's own and the intertwined fingers of their hands. "Or perhaps there's just more to be optimistic about."

Huma's grin widened. "Maybe so."

The greys seemed to surround and caress Huma as the two friends were slowly drawn closer together. And, as their lips finally met, the importance of everything else in Huma's universe seemed to fade into nothingness. All that mattered now was the feel of soft lips, the heat of Magius' body pressed tight against his own. There were no more dreams of Knighthood, of blue-white armour, of the icy sheen of bright light on steel. There was just the silver-plated moment, and the knowledge that nothing could ever be the same again.

"Funny," Magius remarked softly, when their lips finally parted, his eyes dazed and sleepy. "I expected it to tickle a lot more than that."

Huma puzzled for a short moment before realising the meaning of the mage's words. "Let's face it," he said sheepishly, reaching up a hand to explore the neophyte moustache. "There's not much there _to_ tickle."

Magius smiled, capturing Huma's hand within his own. "I like it," he argued. "It makes you look like the great knight that you're going to be one of these days."

Huma returned his friend's smile. For the first time in his life, he actually believed that it would happen. Not soon. For now, he was content to remain in this life, to remain at Magius' side. But, one day...

And, as they kissed again, the silver shadows grew around them, embracing the birth of the new night.

**13-11-2000**


End file.
